Tom and Jerry remained a popular cold-weather drink throughout most of the 19th century, then atrophied into a holiday drink. At this point it is mostly unknown outside the upper midwest, where the batter is still sold in groceries during the holidays. This "dope," as it is still known in northern Michigan and Wisconsin bars, is a mixture of eggs, separated, beaten, then recombined with sugar, cinnamon, allspice, cloves and a little rum. A tablespoon of the resulting batter is added to an ounce each cognac and rum, hot milk or water and grated nutmeg. Last year we made the water version, so this year we’ll move forward in time and default to the smoother hot milk version. Water’s good too, just a bit more austere and booze-forward – and we’re pouring good hooch in these.

Egg Nogg has been a popular beverage dating back to colonial times. The modern cocktail shaker’s first and original purpose was to make the drink. But way back in the day, just as with the Julep, to use whiskey in the drink was considered a strictly backwoods affair, if not downright vulgar. But times change – and when the cognac became scarce and pennies needed to be pinched, particularly in the South – that cheap bourbon started to look awfully good. This particular bourbon nogg from the Prohibition era has been widely disseminated online. It comes to us from George Hunt, an American businessman stationed in Shanghai, who secured the recipe from x, who got it from y, who got it from… In any case, Mr. Hunt made a big to-do over the annual making of the nogg, inviting only his 8 closest associates, to whom varying degrees of honor were attached according to their role in the nogg-making. This preparation is pretty close to many modern homemade noggs.

Breakfast Nogg $71 part bourbon nogg to 2 parts Founder’s Breakfast Stout. Not historical.. I mixed this up on a lark last week, and it’s damn tasty.